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Brian Ruff
Brian Robert Ruff (born April 7, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, author and philanthropist, who owns several business ventures in the United States, Australia and St. Gregory. He is best known as the owner of RivalSport, a sportswear and sporting equipment company, on which he built his fortune. Early life and education Ruff was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the oldest of three children. He attended Westlake High School, where he played on the school's basketball team, then went on to earn an MBA from The Ohio State University, graduating in 1991. Business career :Main article: RivalSport In 1993, Ruff moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked as a bartender and delivery driver, as well as selling t-shirts and sports jerseys by mail order out of his garage, adopting the business name Clutch City Sports in 1994 in honor of the Houston Rockets' successful quest for the 1994 NBA championship. In 1995, Ruff opened Clutch City Sports' first storefront in a west Houston mall, selling Rockets and other Houston-area sports merchandise. The Rockets' run to their second consecutive NBA championship that year boosted the store's sales and by 1997, Clutch City Sports had opened a second location at Baybrook Mall in south Houston. By the late 1990s, Ruff had been inundated with requests from customers to carry merchandise for other teams in Texas. Ruff was initially reluctant to stock gear for Dallas-area teams in particular, but relented in 1999, renaming the stores from Clutch City Sports to RivalSport, with the name and a newly-designed red and blue logo reflecting the new "Houston vs Dallas" theme of the stores. In 2000, RivalSport created an online storefront and began to establish a presence in e-commerce. Sports ownership In 2012, Ruff founded an arena football team in Columbus, Ohio, naming the team the Ohio Falcons. The Falcons joined the United Arena Football League for the 2012-13 season and played at Taft Coliseum after a deal to play games at Nationwide Arena fell through. The Falcons were an immediate success, going 15-1 in their inaugural season, however the season was soured by the death of Ruff's wife Renee in December 2012 (see below), after which Ruff – who had been a visible presence at many Falcons games despite being based over 1,100 miles away in Houston – retreated from the public eye. He returned to the owner's box in time for the team's playoff run, which culminated in the Falcons winning the 2013 championship game over the Jefferson City Titans by a score of 19-3. Despite this success, Ruff sold the franchise in the summer of 2013, citing the ongoing pressures of grieving the loss of his wife. The team relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and changed their name to the Grand Rapids Spartans. In June 2015, Ruff purchased the Gregorian third division association football club Scorpio FC, renaming the team to RivalSport F.C. after his sportswear brand. In Ruff's first year in charge, the club were champions of League C and earned promotion to League B for the first time in their history. The following year, they achieved their second successive promotion when they won the promotion playoff final, gaining the club's first-ever place in St. Gregory's top division, League A. Personal life In 2011, Ruff married Renee Finn, 12 years his junior, whom he had met while giving a seminar in Houston the previous year. Their marriage was cut short in December 2012 when Renee passed away from a sudden cerebral hemorrhage. Ruff disappeared from the public eye for several months following his wife's death. Ruff is an atheist and a humanist. He is a member of Houston Atheists and a co-chairman of the Freethought Community of South Texas. He has also been a guest on the Austin-based webcast show, The Atheist Experience. In 2013, he wrote a book entitled Earning Your Stripes: Positive Words for the Non-Believing Athlete. Ruff identifies as politically liberal and has voiced his support for LGBT rights, same-sex marriage and gun reform. In a 2012 interview, Ruff told the Houston Chronicle that although he grew up in Cleveland and supported that city's professional teams (such as the Browns, Indians and Cavaliers) as a youth, he now considers Houston his hometown and identifies as a fan of the Texans, Astros and Rockets. Category:People pages Category:RivalSport F.C. Category:People from the United States